


Hindsights 20/20

by Yikesu



Category: Detroit: Become Human (Video Game)
Genre: Are Chloe and Elijah dating???, Bad Pick-Up Lines, College!Gavin, Elijah Kamski & Gavin Reed are Siblings, Fluff and Crack, Gay, Gay Bar, Gen Z Gavin, Kinda, M/M, Millennial Hank Anderson, New Year's Eve, Past!gavin, They are actually cousins, Thristy on main, Time Skips, Time Travel, Trans Male Character, Tumblr Prompt, chat fic, maybe so, trans!gavin, vine references
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-22
Updated: 2018-09-26
Packaged: 2019-07-15 13:13:12
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,476
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16063880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Yikesu/pseuds/Yikesu
Summary: Elijah is a man with too much time on his hands so he invents time travel and test it out.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> That one tumblr prompt...uhhh ill link it as soon as i find it again
> 
> This is self indulgent and wrote the 1st chapter on my phone so u all gotta live with that.

Kamski had the most wicked grin on his face as he monitored his cousin's movements from his poolside television. The original Chloe sat on a beach chair crocheting a lovely matching set of mittens with a smaller yet just as evil smile on her face.

 

“Eli dear,” she begins not looking up from her work, “do you think these will be an acceptable apology for when they come back?”

 

Elijah cocks his head over to her, “Nothing in this world will ever suffice I’m sure, but that's a good start.”

 

“Awful.”

 

“Hm,” he’s already back on the screen.

 

“Nothing,” she hummed, “absolutely nothing love.”

 

The steady click of dress shoes hitting tile increases in volume and a door can be heard sliding open. In walks Hank and Connor who have just come back from grabbing a bottle of champagne from their car.

 

Connor notices the t.v. first and muffles a yelp. On screen is a disoriented Gavin with his eyes widened in fear at the lack of understanding he harbored. Minutes ago he was with his cousin and, for lack of a better word, friends getting ready to celebrate the New Year of 2040.

 

“What the hell,” Anderson mutters when he sees what's gotten his android so spooked. He almost doesn’t believe his sight when he glances up but the expression on the Kamski’s faces tell him that this is real.

 

“Is that Detective Reed on screen?”

 

“Yes it is,” Elijah confirms.

 

“And judging by the way that interception is functioning right now it’s in the past, no?” It’s a mess of vehicles with the lights blurs of reds, yellows, and greens.  It’s the old system where lights predict traffic instead of adapting in real-time.

 

“Right again!”

 

Hank gapes, “What?”

 

Everyone ignores him. “Reed isn’t any younger though, or at least doesn’t look it. What year is this?”

 

“2020, the year he graduated,” he says plainly.

 

“Holy shit.”

 

Chloe raises her head to address them all, “Holy shit indeed Mr. Anderson. Holy shit Indeed.”

 

~~~

 

‘What the hell’ Is all Gavin can think off as he leans against the brick walls of some office building.

 

He would check his phone for the time but its changed from his cyberlife phone to an apple one and that scares him to bits. Ever since becoming the first American company to hit one trillion in stock prices it rapidly decreased into bankruptcy and eventually, it closed. That was in 2027.

 

He had watched the plastic prick and Anderson walk in and then promptly out of the house-- something about a missing item-- and he figured he could sneak off and snog Nines without anybody noticing. After all, Elijah was doing laps and Chloe was fiddling around upstairs in the cabinets of her room searching for something so who would care?

 

Suddenly Chloe called for assistance and what kind of gentleman would he be if he didn’t offer her a hand? Nines followed suit just a few steps behind but when they got to the top of the staircase he stilled.

 

With the L.E.D. he so proudly wears on his temple spinning red he softly says, “Gav, you should not continue your route to Chloe.” He’s gripping Reed’s arm at this point.

 

He raises an eyebrow, “What? Nines What the fuck?”

 

As quickly as the bad feeling came it’s gone and the Rk900 shakes his head and slowly his light turns to yellow. It pulses yellow for a few beats and finally cycles blue. “Sorry. I don’t know what overcame me.”

 

“Pfft, you’re so weird. Let’s go, she’s waiting for us I bet.”

 

And his memories end there. Gavin Reed has no idea what happened in between helping the lady of the house and now.  “Phck, phck, phck,” he curses as he pushes his back off the wall and starts walking down the nearest street.

 

Something’s off about where he is. It’s not just the fact that he has an apple phone, no, it’s more. The street names are foreign to him as he aimlessly trudges on. They seem older like they’ve been retrofitted to what they used to be. He sees a sign that says someone's name who he distinctly remembers lost their legacy to the horrible things they’d done just hidden below the surface.

 

It was odd, to say the least.

 

The way people dressed wasn’t too far off from normal. There were less glowing accents in clothing then he thought he’d seen on the drive up to his family’s event. Gavin wasn’t big himself on that type of fashion, he preferred plain boring earthy-tones but still, the absence of such clothing sounded an alarm in the back of his head.

 

The phone in his pocket chimes and curiosity gets the better of him. He turns the device on and balks at the date.

 

12/31/2020

 

New Year's Eve twenty years ago.

  


This had to be some cruel trick he rationalized. No way had time travel been achieved. The whole world would have exploded with this new technology. He would’ve heard about, the whole world would have heard about it and--

 

Kamski.

 

Gavin took a shuttered breath, ‘I’m gonna kill the bastard, just you wait Elijah.” He was fuming, the confusion of not knowing what happened in the span of five minutes was killing him! And where was Nines?

 

The phone chimes again and he realizes he didn’t check the first one. The display shows two text messages in a row from two separate unknown numbers.

 

 _OwO hewwo? Did it work?_ \- 42x-3x9-029x  {4 mins ago}

 

 _Detective Reed, I seem to have lost a great deal of memory. I have lapsed in approximately seven minutes and Now I am In a compromising position. I do believe I shouldn’t exist at this moment in time yet here I am._ \- model #320-1245-431 {1 min ago}

 

That last one had to be from Nines and he asked where he was. After a minute he still hadn’t gotten a response

 

The first one was a mystery to him. Who did he know that would speak like a godforsaken dead meme in everyday life? Too many to count really, it was too many to count. He texted the first number with blithe in his tone

 

**_Who are you? Did what work?_ **

 

_The time machine of course, what else?_

 

**_Da fuck?_ **

 

_Eloquent as always my favorite relative by far._

 

**_Elijah?_ **

 

_( >x<) ahhhhh you found out my identity oh no! _

 

**_Dude what did u do to me? Why can’t i remember shit? WHy is my phone all wonky?!_ **

 

_Well uh, future me told me to do it so i did._

 

**_You don't rlly think ima believe im in the past and that a future you told u to do this to me…_ **

 

_It’s the truth! The year is 2020. You have (or this timeline’s you) just finished your first semester at Towson University and you are back in Detroit for the Winter break._

 

**_No no no no the year is almost 2040 i’m a detective at DPD and i am gonna deck u into a wall_ **

 

_Stop denying the facts of the matter. Look around. Does this look like the earth you know? Or perhaps the earth you remember? I wouldn’t know how much has changed but I’d like to think it’s drastically different?_

 

He does as he’s told and takes a good hard look at the world that surrounds him.

 

On the street, people are talking to one another about the latest election news, something about everyone being glad that the mistake that was made four years ago had been rectified effectively.

 

So one was looking past another which is something that happened often, Gavin thought, considering how often alerts would pop up mid-conversation via android links. No one looked like an android, they all looked organic. It was hard to tell the difference but when androids talked you could see the gears in their heads turn as they assisted every single conversation regardless of if they still had their L.E.D. in.

 

At first, nothing clicked in his brain, this was just a normal day where maybe a mass update for androids had taken place to celebrate the New Year and they were all uploading. Like it was all apart of some cruel prank Elijah had set it up like this so that he’d have passed out for a few and would panic.

 

It didn’t seem like something he’d do but it wasn’t out of the realm of possibility, was it?  

 

He continues to search.

 

A woman sat on a bench breastfeeding her baby quietly and a man shyly tried and avoid staring at her. She had huddled herself in the corner of the He wasn’t doing a very good job. He eventually got up and told her something she seemed offended at whatever he had said though.  He scoffed and stalked off and Reed wondered what that was about.

 

As his eyes wandered to follow the man he saw a police officer, she was old and scruffy, standing on the other side of the walkway where he stood. The officer was eyeing a couple of kids who were walking up the streets who happened to be in dark hoodies as it was cold and all happened to be black as that is the main population of Detroit.

 

The kids weren’t doing anything wrong, being a little rowdy sure but they were teenagers. Nothing to warrant legal action. But then he saw the officer start walking towards them, in a slow and deliberate manner. She yelled at them and he saw the teens go stone-like. They stood up straight and lost the playful looks they wore. The looked like dolls on a shelf.

 

And then he saw it, he saw the ‘old world’. In the latest year most of these problems, though they still existed, had legislation as well as societal shame that prevented some of the problems that the late 2010’s. His brain dumped out information at thousands of miles a second of history that the 2020’s created.

 

**_Elijah I’m going to kill u_ **

 

_Me? Or future me?_

 

**_B o t h_ **

 

_Yikes! \\(@w@)/ Hold on though, you need me!_

 

**_Tf u mean?_ **

 

_Without me you wouldn’t have a hot android girlfriend would you?_

 

**_Eli i have an android bf...how do you know about Nines?_ **

 

_I’ve been working on this….’nines’ as you so kindly called her(him?) for years. Also what do you mean a boyfriend? I thought you were a--_

 

Gavin takes a deep breath and interrupts  the fruitless rambling via texting.

 

**_Gavin John Reed._ **

 

_What?_

 

**_That's my name now, sorry I forgot about this time barrier._ **

 

_That's a male name._

 

**_Mhm._ **

 

_But you aren’t male._

 

**_Wrong bITCH_ **

 

_What do you mean-- oh shit..._

 

**_You’re a slow fucker aint ya_ **

 

_My apologies._

 

**_It’s fine. We’re still estranged right?_ **

 

_Yes, I haven’t seen you in a while_

 

More like ‘I haven’t seen you in three years, two months and eighteen days but who was counting? Not either of them that's for sure…

 

_So you’re a man, you’re gay(?) and I did successfully build you a robot significant other?_

 

**_Yes, bi, and yeah_ **

 

 _Wrow_ _ᕕ( ᐛ )ᕗ_

 

**_So you know where my ‘driod is???_ **

 

Nines still hadn’t responded to him and it had been over thirty minutes. It was concerning to say the least.

 

_No idea. I just wanted to talk to you to see if this worked._

 

**_You fuckin succ_ **

 

_I suggest checking wherever you were on this night twenty years ago, I’m sure you couldn’t have changed that much in your haunts._

 

**_Fuck you_ **

 

Gavin pocketed his phone after sending the message and kicked the nearest wall. It hurt like hell but it confirmed to him that he really was here, this wasn’t an odd dream, and he was living in the past.

 

He didn’t particularly dislike his early adult years but he didn’t like them either. It was just something that took place before he considered himself really living. He wouldn’t consider himself to be truly living until he made Detective but his best chapter in life started after he met Nines.

 

He kind of missed Nines right now.

 

~~~

 

Nines was in a gay bar, something he’d been in before but not for pleasure. That had been for work but now he stood in a corner pretending to nurse a drink in order to blend in. He had come to the conclusion that androids, though they existed, had not broken into mainstream life yet and Cyber life was only a year and a half old at this point.

 

He was an attractive man so he looks he received while he impartially surveyed the club. It was loud and sweaty and gross. It seemed like the type of place to find his man. In the end he didn’t have to find Gavin, Gavin found him. But this one, this one was different.

 

He was shorter that the android remembered, and he had perfect memory. He lacked the rugged scar that displayed across his Detectives face. Instead of the pretty brunette color that Nines was so fond of this past Reed had bright blond hair with red tips. His voice was off too, it was deeper than what seemed possible for a human of his stature to naturally sound like.

 

This was only something an android would have picked up on though, no human would have noticed.

 

He found this younger Gavin a bit too brash for his taste. He hadn’t known it was possible for the man to be anymore hot-headed, vehement and overall overbearing in a conversation that he was at almost 40. Turns out even the most advanced pieces of technology can have faults in their hypothesis.

 

The younger Gavin is a firecracker, totally all over the place. Despite it being -8 he was dressed provocatively in a thin muscle shirt that couldn’t have kept him warm at all and skinny jeans that highlighted his true best asset.

 

Nines was pleased to know that over the years it had only aged finner like wine. Damn it was just naturally that perky, huh? God really went to town on his human’s body but forgot to spend time on the personality but that wasn’t so much a problem.

 

You can fuck a personality into someone.

 

“You didn’t answer cutie,” the college student slurred a little. His speech was impaired no doubt by the last few rounds of shots he’d taken-- illegally mind you-- within the last ten minutes.

 

Shooting a flirty smile Nines cut his eyes over to the teen. “What did you ask? Can’t remember much when you are dressed in such a distracting manner.”

 

Past Reed licks his lips, “Name. What it it?”

 

“Call me Richard.”

 

“Too long, I’m gonna call you Rich.”

 

“Most people go for Dick.”

 

“Oh,” Gavin smirks, “trust me I am going for dick.”

 

Wow,wow,wow,wow, he’s really out here being a thirsty hoe. He didn’t just shoot his shot, he fucking threw his whole ass ego along with that shot. And the worst part was it worked, Nines laughed like that was charming or cute or at least not the worst pick up line known to mankind.

 

“Shit, you’ve got the nicest laugh I’ve heard in a while.”

 

A blush creeps steadily across his face at the compliment. “Thank you Gavin.”

 

Gavin’s eyebrows furrow and a fraction too late Nines realized his mistake. “Either I’m super drunk or you just turned blue.”

 

He played dumb. “I think you might be wasted,” he says.

 

Lucky for him his boy is a dumbass. “Yeah, not gonna lie I’m phucked up.”

 

Oh. He always had that lispe. Cute.

 

“Maybe you should lay down for second if you can’t even see,” he jokes.

 

“With you? Hell yeah.” This Gavin winks sending a jolt throughout his circuits.  

 

Is it immoral to flirt with the younger version of the love of your life? Is it at the least weird? All signs point to yes.

 

He misses Gavin. His Gavin. The one that wasn’t so bold, or tipsy, or horny. God bless the decrease in sex drive as men got older, Nines may be a robot but even he’d get tired of breeding like a rabbit.

 

“Do you wanna get out of here?” The teenager asks. It isn't that late out, only about ten and yet the idea of retiring to the house-- or Nines supposed just Reed’s house-- sounds so damn appealing.

 

“Gavin i--" he stops midway as he gets a message from his Gavin.

 

**Im coming to pick-a-dick hold on**

 

_Pick-a-dick?_

 

**The name of the bar your at**

 

“Rich? You okay?”

 

_I met a younger you. I might sleep with him._

 

“Don't worry,” he replies, “I’m good. Did you want to leave?

 

“Yeah, you down?”

 

“Let me finish my drink and then we'll be on our way, hm.”

 

**Sleep with that whore and i’ll kill you and feed you to the hermit crabs**

 

_Well then hurry up because younger you is eager and I'm susceptible to the charms of men_

 

**Fuck you**

 

_You will tonight. Well one of you will._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: @fencingfellow 
> 
> Gimme those kudos and comments if u liked my crack

Gavin hasn’t run actively for more than a mile in over six years. Most police chases are a few hundred meters maybe half a mile if you have a really tricky bastard but nothing more. He’s feeling his lack of exercise right now as his chest burns with heavy breaths and a mixture of pure rage. 

 

Murder. He's going to murder his cousin in cold blood an no one can stop him.

 

However, before he commits homicide he’ll have to find Nines before past him jump his goddamn boyfriend bones.

 

Pick-a-dick is not the name of that bar by the way. It’s It's called  _ Benefits _ , yeah because that's so much better. It’s about as classy as it can be for a place snuggled between two opposing strip clubs. With its harsh neon lighting and questionable patrons, a younger Gavin felt oddly at home at the place. Sure it was nasty but it was a safe haven for him when he went home from school.

 

Thank God it closed after he graduated or else he might've spent his entire thirties as well as twenties in the hell hole.

 

The present Reed had forgotten one large detail though, pick-a-dick was a popular joint and getting in was for only two types of people: baby gays with asses that won't quit and wealthy married “straight” folk. The rest of the scrubs sat outside and waited and prayed that they’d get lucky somehow in line.

 

The line was already out the door as he spots an overly loud, obnoxiously flamboyant queen complain at the head of the line about the club being at maximum capacity.

 

“Damn straight women,” Gavin finds himself saying. Everyone on the street, no matter what part of the community they are, resonates with that statement. 

 

It was clear that he isn't getting in the way the bouncer looked at him with her sympathetic position. She’s super familiar the way her eyes are shaped and the way her smile develops on her face when she gets a good look at him.

 

“Oh my God,” says Tina. This is where he’d meet Tina Chen years ago when he’d gotten his first fake i.d. back in March. He’d forgotten that she’d worked at this place before going into the academy. “Testosterone Gel did wonders for you Reed. It’s been like what, a few months?”

 

Months? Gel? He switched to shots after two years of and He’s been sticking his fucking thighs for the better half of his life how could she think all of this happened in a couple months? 

 

Oh.

 

She thinks he’s younger him.

 

“What?” he plays dumb. 

 

Ignoring him she abandons her post at the front of the doors and walks over to him. “You dyed your hair back too! And a scar, a fucking scar across your nose? Who the hell did you get beat up by?!”

 

He’s not about to mess up the space-time continuum and admit that he is, in fact, Gavin Reed so instead he continues to give her a perplexed expression.

 

“Wait are you not Gavin?” 

 

“No.” he says like a liar.

 

She breaks out into a laugh, “Oh wow you look just like this guy I know. Like a more messy version of him but still.”

 

Messy? If anything Gavin had really cleaned up his ugly mug over the years but sure messy let's go with that.

 

“I should introduce you to him,” she motions to the doors. She opens them for him only to hear a chorus of groans from those in line.

 

“Shut the fuck up Oh my sweet baby Jesus you all with getting in eventually...or maybe not! But don't take it out on me,” she screams at them. “He looks like my best friend so he gets in.”

 

Someone yells, “This is homophobic behavior at it’s finest!”

 

“We are all gay,” she calls back. “Okay so I get off at midnight and I’ll be in to introduce you two but until then have fun.” She gives him a wink, “also he should have red tips right now and when I say he looks like you I mean it.”

 

“Alright,” he nods, “thanks, Tina.”

 

“I didn’t give you my name,” she squints at him.

 

Damn. “I’m a really good guesser,” he offers and walks in without looking back. When he estimates he’s far enough away he grumbles to himself about how shitty of a bouncer she’s been. He can already remember what his favorite drink was here, fireballs of course, and decided that he’ll be able to find himself, and more importantly Nines, near the shots bar. 

 

No such luck however when he strolls up there isn’t anyone as handsome as his boyfriend and there sure as hell isn’t anyone with their tips dyed. He sighs at the sight of this girl he used to date-- or maybe this time-period was before that-- slurping a jello shot without a care in the world. She could hold her alcohol down about as well as the earth was flat.

 

Lightweights, they were perfect for the two whole weeks they’d dated because neither of them was ever sober enough to remember shit.

 

Gavin’s ears perk at the mention of a well-defined man with a gorgeous set of eyes. The way it was said made him just know that this stranger had been describing his android. Sure enough, when he glanced over there he saw Nines with some tiny fucking twinkies grimy ass hands all over him what the fuck--

 

Fuck.

 

Reed knows that fucking twink. He’s that twink. 

 

Fuck.

 

As calmly as he could he made his way over to the two, his head lowered a little as he trained himself on the ground. Ever so slightly he bumped into Nines’ shoulder with his. It was so light that a human would have just shrugged it off but Nines, of course, knew who it was and what it was for.

 

“Sorry,” Gavin says with his teeth gritted together in a grimace. He hates this so much it’s unbelievable how much he wants to scream.

 

Nines returns the pleasantry noting how they were going to play this game. “No problem.” They stare at each other for a fraction of a second to confirm what their both thinking. The plan is ‘old times’ also known as the most believable but still one of the worst escape possible. It was so bland that it could happen in day to day life but with an inexperienced partner it could go south fast.

 

Luckily these two morons have had their fair share of getaway stories.

 

A faux gasp from Nines, “Giovanni? It’s been so long, where have you been?”

 

Sucking his pride Gav-- Giovanni flashes a shark tooth smile. “Ah, Richard it’s been only a year or so, no?”

 

The college student that stands just beside them is confused. “Rich do you know him?” Lifting an arm he slings it over Nines. The gesture has more meaning than it ought to.

 

“Yes, he’s an old friend of sorts...” he trails off at the end leaving the youngest’s mind to run wild at what kind of friendship they had. “I had no idea he’d be in Detroit though.”

 

“You know I hardly know much about where I’ll be. Work and all that,” Giovanni apologizes with a little pout. 

 

Nines nods in agreement and then introduces his company for the sack of authenticity. 

 

“So you’re 18?”

 

“Yeah,” Gavin had an attitude. “What are you, like, 60?”

 

Nines laughs awkwardly radiating that human vibe that Elijah Kamski no doubt perfected. “Play nice,” he mutters to the both of them.

 

“Of course,” they say in unison with the same exact clip in their words. Freaky.

 

“I’m 38 to answer your question, though most tell me my scar makes me look a little younger.”

 

“You mean doucher?”

 

“What,” he ask staring down at his past self.  

 

“Ah nothing,” the youth ignores him. “So old enough to have a mid life crisis?”

 

“No not quite but definitely old enough to drink which isn’t something I can say for you.”

 

“Fuck off.”

 

“Make me,” he growls back.

 

“Boys,” Nines chuckles again, “stop it please. Friendly conversation is the best, no?”

 

“No,” they say.

 

And with that Nines thinks about literally anything other than the fact that he stand between two time-bombs.

 

~~~

 

Hank has opened the bottle of champagne long ago as he tries to digest the facts. So Gavin is in the past to meet up with his past to prove a point-- ne Hank doesn't know the specifics of-- that present Elijah made with past Elijah.

 

What the fuck????

 

Anderson turns to Chloe who has finished the mittens and has moved on to crocheting a scarf. “How are we seeing Gavin's every move?”

 

“Eli has gone back in time to reroute public security footage, the eyes of Nines, and other cameras such as smartphones to all bring the film back to the hub, this house. From their a future Elijah has taken the best footage and is airing it for us in what we are calling real time.”

 

“I’m sorry what?”

 

Connor signs, “There are three Kamski’s on this project.  A past one who has set up recording locations, the one we sit before who is reveling in his own genius, and the one who has already sorted this out and can confirm that this timeline will not be harmed by this event.

 

Another swig or alcohol down his throat. “What the fuck is wrong with you?”

 

“Nothing,” the scientists shrugs, “I’m just too curious for my own good.”

 

“Curiosity killed the cat,” Hank laughs dryly.

 

The three that surrounded him chime together unfazed by his antics, “But satisfaction brought it back.”

 

What the hell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tumblr: @fencingfellow 
> 
> Gimme those kudos and comments ifnu liked my crack

**Author's Note:**

> Tumblr is @fencingfellow


End file.
